And the winner is…

Following close on the heals of that other awards ceremony (in LA) we are delighted to announce that the comic selected by Paul Gravett as best in show is by Stuart Medley:

Here are Paul’s comments:

With such a high standard and wide variety of excellent submissions, I found it harder than ever to pick my absolute favourite. But, in the end, Stuart Medley’s entry stayed with me and invited me back for several reasons. For starters, I enjoyed his clever composition, putting ‘The Great Tree’ centre stage across the two pages and showing the passage of time through the changing seasons and their effects on the tree as well as the characters, from summer and autumn through winter to spring. In fact, Medley’s whole spread can be seen as one single image subdivided into four time zones, with characters repeating as they reappear around the tree. It’s actually symmetrical and balanced, with three panels for each season. I also enjoyed his darkly satirical scenario about two competing businesses, Mondo Planto (clearly a dig at Monsanto) and Global Botanics, out to secure the patent on this ‘rare flora’ for commercial gain, an all-too-possible plot in the crazy world of genetic modification and corporate greed. And re-reading it reveals a further humorous twist – you gradually realise that Global Botanics have misunderstood and targeted the wrong tree entirely. They have confused geneticist Dr. G.’s ‘Grey Tree’ with the similar-sounding massive ‘Great Tree’ that fills this garden and these pages. In reality, the vital specimen is the less impressive smaller tree nearby which Dr. G and Mr S stand next to in the first and final panels. Add to this the way Medley cartoons clearly and sharply and his way with witty dialogue – I especially liked Dr G.’s offer to ‘put real eyes in potatoes’ – and to my mind, you have a winner!

 

Well done Stuart!

Pie Factory Party

A great night was had by all at the  GEEK2013 launch party which was in the Pie Factory, Margate. The party also launched the Adventures in Comics exhibition and we gathered a lot of votes from visitors for their favourite comic (of which more information will follow soon!)

Here is what it looked like:

 

Visitors voted with stickers

 

Paul Gravett’s Intro to AIC3

For those of you who cannot wait to read Paul’s comments in the paper we have published you can see his comments here:

http://paulgravett.com/index.php/articles/article/adventures_in_comics_3

 

 

 

 

As well as sending copies to contributors, the papers will be given, free of charge, to local schools and libraries as be distributed at the AIC exhibition and at GEEK2013. Short bio’s of the artists will be published on the AIC web site for those interested in a particular piece of work.

 

The show goes up at the Pie factory for the opening on Thursday 21st Feb.

Rumour has it that Mr Gravett has selected a favourite. Watch this space!

 

 

The website is updated!

Go to http://www.adventuresincomics.org and click through to 2013 to see the latest round of submissions. we will put up a link to a downloadable version soon.

Web site update

 

 

In case you were wondering, we are trying to get our web site updated with all the new submissions, but it is taking a little longer than planned.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy this contribution by Jan Wheatley:

 

 

The Great Tree – Preview show at Marine Studios

First Friday

Brilliant night last night. Thanks to Mike Garley for a great talk. Photos to follow when photographer resurfaces.